New-look Gulf 12 Hours confirmed for December

Organisers of the Gulf 12 Hours Abu Dhabi have confirmed the prestigious GT race will return to its traditional end-of-year place on the international motorsport calendar, while also announcing new racing features for the 11 December 2022 event to be held at Yas Marina Circuit, Yas Island, United Arab Emirates.

The new-look race will be run as a continuous 12-hour race for the first time in its history, rather than being split into two six-hour parts as has previously been held.

The endurance GT race was first held at the iconic Abu Dhabi Formula 1 circuit back in January 2012 with 10 editions run in total there to date: the last in January this year with Mercedes-AMG winning thanks to the 2 Seas Motorsport GT3 team of Isa Al Khalifa, Ben Barnicoat and Martin Kodric. The same team also won a special edition of the Gulf 12 Hours at Bahrain International Circuit in January 2021.

While the last two editions of the race were moved to January to accommodate revised dates of the Formula 1 Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix – which took place later in the year due to the pandemic hit season – Gulf 12 Hours promoters are looking forward to their prestigious event resuming its traditional date in December.

“We are delighted to see the Gulf 12 Hours back at its original December date which has always been the preferred date of our competitors on the international calendar,” said Andrea Ficarelli, head of the promoter team. “We expect to return to a sold-out entry list as already experienced in December 2019 which was our last event before the pandemic affected the sport globally and the UAE motorsport calendar.

“Due to popular demand, we also have taken on board feedback from all our competitors past and present and are happy to introduce a 12-hour race in one go instead of in two parts. We also will have more exciting updates to be announced in the coming weeks, including the possible race debut of some 2023 cars.”

The 2022 Gulf 12 Hours Abu Dhabi in December will be open to five categories of cars including GT3 Pro, GT3 ProAm, GT3 Am, GT4 and Porsche GT3 Cup (992). A decision on Ligier JS2R and KTM X-Bow GTX entries is currently under evaluation.

Team entries will officially open on Friday 10 June 2022 (exactly six months ahead of the event).